We already have numerous legal and professional agencies benefitting from our cost-effective service, and we offer invoice accounts for legal professionals and organisations wishing to use Email a Prisoner to send communications to their clients.
If multiple staff members need access, we can provide a multi-user account. Please contact our support team for more information at uk@emates.com
Whether you're:
- Updating prisoners on the progress of their cases
- Sending instructions or notices
- Sharing information from education, resettlement or rehabilitation services
Email a Prisoner provides a fast, secure, and efficient way to send your messages.
Messages cost just 42p and are:
- Delivered directly to the prison
- Printed and placed in an envelope for wing distribution
- Available at some sites via kiosks or in-cell devices
Legally sensitive documents
Legally sensitive, confidential, or Rule 39 correspondence must not be sent via this service.
These messages cannot be treated under privileged handling procedures and will be stopped and returned.
For such communications, we strongly recommend using traditional secure channels.
You can view the official Prisoner Communications Policy for England and Wales here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prisoner-communications-policy-psi-492011
Legal Profession Feedback
"Since joining the scheme four months ago, we have had some very positive feedback from our prisoner customers."
"Due to Data Protection restrictions, we are not able to disclose confidential information in emails, however we can at least alert the prisoner to the fact that we have sent them a letter or need them to contact us about their case. We have in the past experienced some problems getting post to prisoners; now that they have an email from us they know to expect a letter and will let us know if this doesn’t turn up."
"The system is very easy to use and we encourage all of our staff to use it for prisoner correspondence; this all helps to improve our service."
— Legal Ombudsman
"Email a Prisoner has been of great benefit to the firm, especially the abuse departments."
"It is easy to use and means we can contact prisoners quickly and efficiently."
— Jordan Solicitors
"Email A Prisoner is a simple idea which is brilliantly organised, easy to use and cheap. Someone clever and perceptive realised that the worst thing about being in custody is the loneliness and isolation of being inside. Two days without contact is an age when you are banged up, not knowing what is going on outside nor who cares. Letters are slow to come and might be infrequent and stamps are getting more expensive. Email is the obvious answer."
"The first problem is how to make it work simply, cheaply and conveniently. Solved. The harder nut to crack was to get it accepted. Security is always HMP’s top priority. Well, the fact is that more and more prisons have been persuaded of the benefits of Email A Prisoner. The security issues have been overcome. And so far as I know, once it has been introduced in a prison nobody has changed their mind. Because it works."
"Apart from keeping prisoners in touch with loved ones, it is also an easy way for legal representatives to get simple, non-confidential messages to prisoners — updating them on legal visits or dates of hearings, for example. Send the message today and the prisoner receives it tomorrow. You don’t have to chase the last post. And the fact it is so easy usually means more regular contact too, all adding up to less anxiety with all the knock-on benefits that brings for everyone — prisoner, family, lawyer and the prison itself."
"At McCormacks Law we use it all the time for basic non-confidential messages and our clients appreciate it. I could not recommend Email a Prisoner highly enough. It makes you wonder why nobody invented it before."
— Director, McCormacks Law
